This invention relates generally to releasable mounting means for glass electric lamp globes or domes.
In known releasable retaining holders of the type which are mounted on the ceiling or on a wall, the glass dome is held by means of three or more threaded screws, each of which has to be unthreaded to permit removal and replacement of the glass dome when changing a light bulb.
In prior art arrangements which use mechanisms other than the conventional multi-screw arrangement described above, there have been proposed flat sheet spring retaining means such as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,312,817; a plurality of tilting levers acutuated by the glass dome during installation of the latter as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,411; and, dome retaining extending arms actuated by a gear drive as shown in Swedish Patent No. 106,578 as examples.
All of the foregoing arrangements have been unsatisfactory due to mechanical problems, complications of design caused by the requirement for many moving parts, and the absence of a positive locking feature whereby the dome cannot be inadvertently released once it is firmly in place.
Accordingly, it has been an object of this invention to provide a holder for detachably mounting a glass electric lamp dome that can be easily actuated to release or attach the dome and which requires only a few moving parts capable of easy manufacture and assembly and economy by elimination of precision parts or fasteners.
According to this invention, there has been provided a holder for detachably mounting a glass electric lamp dome which includes a pair of dome holding arms mounted to a lever arm which in turn is pivotally mounted on a base plate. The lever arm and the dome holding arms are actuated by a finger engageable lever formed as part of one of the dome holding arms and having a finger engageable terminus at the end opposite the end attached to the pivot arm. A feature of the invention is spring biasing means connecting the base plate and the lever arm to continuously urge the dome holding arms radially outwardly in dome holding locking position unless the finger engageable dome holding arm is moved inwardly. Another feature of the invention is lock means associated with said finger engageable dome holding arm to permit the locking of said mechanism in a dome disengaging position so that the dome can be removed and replaced.
The invention will be more fully described with reference to the drawings.